Tour de brew: Collaboration Fest 2020

Editor’s note: In a statement issued on March 12, the Colorado Brewers Guild (CBG) has cancelled Collaboration Festival 2020 indefinitely: After careful deliberation and discussions with community partners, city officials and stakeholders, the Colorado Brewers Guild has announced today that the 7th Annual Collaboration Fest on April 4, 2020 at the Fillmore Auditorium will be suspended indefinitely due to the ongoing situation surrounding Coronavirus (COVID-19).

However, the below information may still be of some use. CBG’s statement continues: “We still hope to celebrate Colorado Pint Day on Wednesday, April 8th, with the possibility of incorporating the 100+ beers brewed for Collaboration Fest, and we’re working on other ways to showcase the amazing range of unique collaboration beers that nearly 200 breweries put their hearts into for the event,” says Bergen. “Stay tuned for more information.”

As usual, CollabFest 2020 will be held in Denver, this year at the
Fillmore Auditorium (a first for the fest). And, like previous years,
CollabFest (April 4) will kick off Colorado Craft Beer Week (April 5-11).

Capital, you’re saying to yourself, but what kind of beer will I be
able to drink at said CollabFest? Well, how about…

…a Pale Ale brewed by the Colorado Brewers Guild
staff?

2020 marks the 25th anniversary of the CBG, and to celebrate they
brewed a pale ale at Joyride Brewing with help from Station 26 Brewing Co.,
Horse & Dragon Brewing Company, 4 Noses Brewing Company, Epic Brewing
Company, Periodic Brewery, Odell Brewing Company, Broken Compass Brewing and
Barrels & Bottles Brewery. It’s this year’s welcome beer, and the CBG will
be handing it out for all who attend.

…a Coffee Scotch Ale brewed by members of the media?

Like last year, and the year before, beer writers of the Centennial
State gathered at a chosen brewery to brew a beer for attendees to enjoy. This
year, Odyssey Beerwerks played host and whipped up an 11-barrel batch of Scotch
Ale brewed with floor malted Marris Otter, Vienna, roasted barley, East Kent
Golding hops and aged on freshly roasted coffee beans from Hunter Bay Coffee
Roasters. Enjoy.

…a Hazy Double IPA from two titans of craft beer?

Recently celebrating its 30th anniversary, Odell Brewing Company
continues to put out some of the best beer in the market. Currently celebrating
its 40th anniversary, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company is the gold standard by
which all others are measured. You’d be foolish to pass up any beer one or the
other puts out, but together — and with a shared passion for hops — this might
be the best beer at the fest.

Last year Raices Brewing Company, Dos Luces Brewery, Coal Mine Avenue
Brewing Company and Jade Mountain Brewing Company banded together to create
Suave Fest (the first Latino craft beer festival in the country) and conceived this
brew. Surprise is the name of the game here: purple in color, cream in
character, dark in flavor.

…a Pale Ale from two of Colorado’s premier purveyors
of pale?

Founded in 2013, Cannonball Creek Brewing Company has won at least one
Great American Beer Festival medal every year since. A feat Bootstrap Brewing’s
Steve Kaczeus is quick to point out with admiration. And from friendly
competition comes collaboration: Hop Shillelagh Pale Ale (they briefly
considered using the portmanteau, Ballstrap, but thought better). Regardless, a
pale by any other name from these two will still be a hoppy treat.

Tickets to the seventh annual Collaboration Festival (3
p.m., April 4) are currently on sale at collabfest.beer.